


A Far Green Country

by Baylor



Series: Birthright [33]
Category: The Faculty (1998)
Genre: Alien Resistance, Foreshadowing, Friendship/Love, Gen, Weigh It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 19:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baylor/pseuds/Baylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zeke and Casey, looking ahead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Far Green Country

2008

In Winnipeg, Zeke liked to walk out past the sheds and pick-up trucks to where the land rolled gently upward and the trees broke and he could see for miles to the southeast, to Minnesota. It unnerved him, somehow, to be outside the States, no matter by how little, but it unnerved him even more to be so close to that frozen land they had briefly called home, and never returned to.

It was a good place to stand and think and smoke, even though Zeke had been fruitlessly trying to quit for months now, ever since some smart-ass 19-year-old kid had outrun him in the field, leaving Zeke gasping behind. Today, at least, he’d not brought any smokes out with him, so it was either go back into the crowded farmhouse to retrieve the pack and surely get pulled into at least one conversation or task, or just stuff his hands in his jeans pockets and ignore his body’s demand for nicotine. 

His hands were still in his pockets when he heard Casey call from behind him, “Hey, you forgot these.” He could hear the taunt clearly – Casey thought Zeke was getting his just desserts, after all these years, for starting Casey smoking. He turned, flip response at the ready, and squinted as the late afternoon sun caught him right in the eyes.

Casey was a dark form moving toward him, and as Zeke’s eyes adjusted, there was a brief moment when he could see both Casey and the sun, as if the rays were filling him and passing through to the other side. Zeke blinked and shaded his eyes, and the strange image was gone. It was only Casey, sliding a cigarette between his lips and then offering the pack to Zeke.

“You should try to quit with me instead of preying on my weaknesses,” Zeke said, and Casey laughed.

“This is much more fun,” he said, then lit and dragged on his cigarette with a satisfied expression. He tossed the lighter to Zeke and then looked down over the hill. He nodded at the landscape.

“What are you out here thinking about all the time, Zeke?” he said.

Zeke lit the cigarette, then shrugged. “Don’t you think about it?” he said. “It’s just weird, being so close.”

Casey stood and smoked, his sight straying further away until he wasn’t really even there for a few moments, Zeke knew, then shook himself and came back. “We’ll go back someday, yeah?” he asked. 

“Go back now, if you want,” Zeke said. “I’m getting too old for all this anyway.”

Casey only smiled slightly at the jest, dropping his head forward and looking at the ground as he ground out his cigarette. “It’s not time yet,” he said. “But say we’ll go back, OK?”

Zeke dropped his cigarette into the dirt and ground it out before putting his hand on the back of Casey’s neck. “We’ll go back,” he said quietly. “You just tell me when.”

“You’ll know,” Casey said, and reached a hand out to tap affectionately at Zeke’s arm. “You always know.” He smiled up at Zeke, who couldn’t help but smile back, even though something in him felt strange and sad at Casey’s words.

“Come on, before they send someone out to look for us,” Casey said, and headed back toward the farmhouse. Zeke turned his back to home, and followed.


End file.
